Leakage-free Wood-Derived Activated Carbon/Methyl Palmitate composite phase change material for thermal management applications

This study aimed to create a leakage-free composite phase change material (PCM) that has high potential for various thermal management applications. Activated carbon derived from wood (ACW) with a porous structure was used to address the leakage issue and improve the thermal conductivity of Methyl palmitate (MPt) used as the PCM. The optimum MPt impregnation ratio was found to be 53 wt% in the leakage-free ACW/MPt composite. The results of FTIR analysis showed that the integration of MPt and ACW was achieved through physical interaction. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated that MPt was uniformly distributed within pores of the ACW scaffold. DSC analyses demonstrated that the fusion enthalpy and temperature of the ACW/MPt (53 wt%) were 129 J/g and 27.59 °C, respectively. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements confirmed that the ACW/MPt was thermally stable. By incorporating MPt with ACW, thermal conductivity of MPt was increased by 2.16 times. The fusion enthalpy of ACW/MPt did not change, and the melting temperature remained constant after 750 thermal cycles. The results of this study indicate that the fabricated leak-free ACW/MPt is cost-effective and environmentally friendly and has the potential to be utilized as a thermal energy storage (TES) material for temperature regulation in various applications.